WARM AND COZY TOMATO SOUP WITH PARMESAN CHEESE DUMPLINGS.....

B.A. and I have been doing a lot of this lately......

That's right, ordering from menus and also staying in motels, because we've been out of town for the past couple of weekends. Bidness trips and such.

And while I love, love, love adventures out of town, here's a little something I'll bet you don't know know about me:

I LOATHE coming back home.

Wait--that didn't come our right--I don't actually hate coming back to our HOME (I LOVE our home, really I do!), but I hate everything I have to do when I walk in the door---unpacking, cleaning up cat messes, getting depressed when I see the devastation that one of God's most perfect creatures hath wrought upon our front porch, once again.....lemme splain.....

Deer. Gotta love 'em. Drove up our drivway to see a GI - NORMOUS 4 point Buck chomping away on my sweet little plant that was trying so valiantly to get through the winter, hidden in the very side corner of the covered porch.....look at it now...SOB!....

Here's the freaky thing : that darned Buck climbed up our very steep front steps to reach his little feast, and this wasn't the first time......this photo doesn't even come close to capturing how high up our porch really is......

*****************

Here's another thing I hate about coming home after a trip--trying to figure out what to fix for suppah! You know the feeling, right? You're tired, the house is a little cold, you're hungry but you don't want one more thing from a restaurant, you just want a home cooked meal, and there's probably not much in the fridge!

Can you relate? Or, is it just me?

Here's what I whipped up for B.A. and myself, in about half an hour flat....a super delicious Tomato Soup with Parmesan Cheese Dumplings--all from stuff I had on hand........

I tell you what....these dumplings are the ULTIMATE in comfort food....this was such a wonderful and warming meal...just what we were craving! I might have even been a little less grumpy, after eating this all up.

By the way, I didn't even take any photos of the prep for this recipe, because my batteries were dead, so you'll have to live with just this one. So sorry.

Here's the recipe.....

TOMATO SOUP WITH PARMESAN CHEESE DUMPLINGS

Makes 2 - 3 bowls of soup, or 4 - 6 cups

1 tblsp. olive oil

1 / 2 yellow onion, chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups chicken broth

1 28 oz. can chopped tomatoes

1 tsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. kosher salt

3 / 4 cup Bisquick

1 / 2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1 / 2 tsp. dried oregano

6 - 8 tblsp. milk

In a large pot, saute onion, celery and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until tender. Stir in broth, tomatoes, brown sugar and salt. Simmer for 15 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree slightly, leaving a few chunks of tomato. Cover, and return soup to a low simmer. Meanwhile,  in a small bowl combine Bisquick, Parmesan cheese and oregano. Add milk (adding more as needed) and stir until a sticky dough forms. With Bisquick dusted hands, roll dough into 12 balls. Add dumplings to soup--cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until dumplings are cooked through.

TODAY I'M SO THANKFUL FOR....

***Can't believe I'm even saying this, but for MORE snow, which we've received over the past 48 hours. Our economy really suffers here in Snowmobile, U.S.A., without it.

***Sleeping in until 7 a.m. this morning--so fabulous!

***My new cookbook, Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris--can't WAIT to get started learning how to do some easy French cooking!